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• Adolf Hitler invited Joseph Goebbels and the Goebbels family to accompany him in Hitler's bunker in Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | CPC]
• Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front penetrated the Berlin, Germany suburbs from the east and north. In the city, at the conference at 1500 hours, Adolf Hitler learned that the counterattack he ordered on the previous day was never carried out by SS General Felix Steiner and grew furious; when he was told by Wilhelm Keitel that Soviet tanks were now entering the city, Hitler conceded that the end was near, and decided for certain that he was to remain in Berlin. The most important papers stored at the bunker were now being burned. On the same day, Albert Speer entered Hitler's bunkers and met with him for the last time before Speer would leave Berlin. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | TH]
• Final German resistance in Harz Mountains were rooted out by US First and Ninth Armies. ww2dbase [TH]
• British Second Army fought its way into Bremen, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• Japanese special attack aircraft sank a minesweeper and damaged a number of other ships off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• USS Croaker refitted at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, ending her fourth war patrol. ww2dbase [Croaker | CPC]
• USS Sennet searched for a P-51 fighter pilot who had bailed out near her position south of Japan, but would fail to locate the pilot. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• USS Parche sank a tanker and damaged another east of Kamaichi, Japan, hitting them with 3 of 6 torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Parche | CPC]
• USS Cero sank a Japanese patrol vessel and damaged a second one with her deck gun south of Japan. ww2dbase [Cero | CPC]
• Viktor Abakumov personally participated in the arrest of Aleksandr Nobikov, who failed to promote Joseph Stalin's son, Vasilii Stalin, to general rank. ww2dbase [Viktor Abakumov | CPC]

• A Japanese reconnaissance flight over Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands reported two US aircraft carriers anchored in the harbor. The ships were actually floating drydocks USS ABSD-2 and ABSD-4. ww2dbase [ABSD-2 | Manus, Admiralty Islands | DS]

• In Burma, Indian 7th Division attacked Yenangyaung while Indian 5th Division attacked Toungoo. ww2dbase [Battle of Rangoon | Yenangyaung | CPC]

• US Seventh Army established a bridgehead across the Danuber River in southern Germany, while US Third Army began moving south through the Danube Valley. To the west, French First Army reached the Swiss-German border. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | TH]
• Polish 2nd Infantry Division captured Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Oranienburg, Germany, with a prisoner population of about 3,000 at the time. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp | Oranienburg, Mark Brandenburg | CPC]
• Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl departed Berlin, Germany for southern Germany on Adolf Hitler's orders. ww2dbase [Wilhelm Keitel | Berlin | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler recognized that the war was lost, and released all non-essential personnel from the Führerbunker in Berlin, Germany. He assured those dismissed that "nobody is now duty-bound to anything." ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | Berlin | CPC]

• In Italy, US IV Corps and British XIII Corps reached the Po River at San Benedetto and Ficarolo, respectively. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | CPC]
• Joe Hayashi single-handedly destroyed three German machine gun positions near Tendola, Italy, but was killed by fleeing German soldiers. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross medal for this action. ww2dbase [Joe Hayashi | Tendola, Toscana | CPC]

• A US Navy PB4Y-1 aircraft attacked small boats in Suo (now Suao) harbor in eastern Taiwan, destroying several small boats. ww2dbase [Suo, Taihoku | CPC]

• While performing a low level "beat-up" of the airfield at RAF Fulbeck in Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, a Lancaster bomber, serial PB463, struck a building and crashed, killing all seven crewmen and eight spectators on the ground. Another twenty personnel suffered injuries, of whom four later died in hospital. ww2dbase [Lancaster | Fulbeck, England | AC]

22 Apr 1945 Interactive Map